Thanks, Tonkin!
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His biggest source of comfort, he said, was being able to hear coalition forces moving closer and "just hoping that they'll find you and that they won't (mistakenly) drop a bomb on you."
Pfc. Miller still serving his country, ping!
If you want on or off my Pro-Coalition ping list, please Freepmail me. Warning: it is a high volume ping list on good days. (Most days are good days).
You know, this is a common complaint in the Army- the classes are just dead boring. The Army could take the most exciting thing in the world and put you to sleep teaching you about it. So, it takes you a few years before it sinks in just exactly how much knowledge you've picked up from all those classes. You don't feel like you're any different than you were the day you went to the recruiter's office but when you stop and think about it, you realize just how much you know and what's more staggering- how much you've been taught that didn't sink in.
For what it's worth, I think the Army, as an institution, has reduced classes and teaching down to a science. They're deadly efficient- it's like a production line- "at this station you will be given a block of instruction on how to use and maintain a five gallon fuel can. I will begin with an explanation which will be followed by a demonstration and then you will be shown a practical application. Task, Conditions and Standards. Given daylight hours and one 5 gallon fuel can the soldier will learn to properly screw and unsrew the lid..." You come out of those moving like a robot when your hands touch a five gallon can- you don't remember learning anything but the teaching was aimed at the primitive part of your brain and that's where you retain it.
But the most memorable classes I can think of were always given by soldiers who had elevated teaching to an art form. When someone loves what he does and understands why it must be done he can make you appreciate why you have to do something or why it has to be done a certain way. You remember those classes and the knowledge stays with you forever because you understand that particular thing then.